In reply to andrewmcleod:
> No. Disappointing, but not surprising; just like the actions of the EU over the current Israeli actions.
> To respond to earlier comments, the US did admit they shot the plane down, but:
> a) they claimed for several years the warship was not within Iranian waters (when it was),
> b) the captain and crew did not appear to be publicly punished in any way for the incident, and several received medals and honours following the ship's tour, and
> c) the US did NOT accept legal liability; they did express regret, and did pay a settlement to the Iranians but explicitly without apologising or admitting wrong-doing.
WHich is all fairly standard.. apart from the medals, but they weren't for that were they? I think they just took the official version of events as an understandable mistake.. which seems highly doubtful as the plane was ascending and not descending..
But re the legal issues.. its the same the world over.. Look at NZ, its finally apologising and righting the treaty of Waitangi and its a huge absolutely massive cost to the Government causing huge financial issues. It's basically why Governments don't do it.. nothing unique to the US.
Have you seen the settlement today against a US tobacco company in a wrongful death suit?
23 billion for the death of one person in punitive damages.. you can understand why Governments world wide like to shy away from actually admitting fault openly.
Post edited at 17:19